Critical
minerals and sustainability

Beside supply concerns, there are significant risks associated with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts of mining projects. Extraction and in particular, processing of CRMs can have negative environmental impacts (loss of biodiversity, water stress, emissions), depending on the methods and processes used, as well as social impacts (armed conflicts, human rights violations, corruption). These impacts can erode public support, increase scrutiny of stakeholders (investors, civil society, downstream industries) and ultimately limit the supply of critical minerals and raw materials. The EU places high importance on sustainability of increased critical raw material production and the CRMA introduces a number of requirements for new critical minerals projects (e.g. sustainability certification schemes, environmental footprint reporting etc.), which will also apply to projects supported by EU strategic partnerships in third countries. Special attention should be paid to the protection of human rights, indigenous peoples and meaningful stakeholder engagement. Australia is a world-leader in developing responsible projects with high ESG credentials. According to the World Bank, Australia scores high across different indicators, including political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, voice and accountability, the rule of law and control of corruption. One of the objectives of the EU-Australia strategic partnership is to ‘closely cooperate on ESG standards’, with a view to promote high ESG standards and improved policy alignment’.

This research theme particularly focuses on the impact of critical minerals on the environment and society, the relevance of ESG standards for responsible critical minerals mining, correlations between ESG standards and critical minerals supply chains, and understanding of similarities and differences between standards in the EU and Australia.